Photographs! (The final round)

Here's one last round of photos from the Grand Canyon... for now, anyway.  I know some other people in our party took photos that I haven't seen yet, and whenever they become available I'll share them.

In the Grand Canyon, another day brings more enchanting rock formations for us to look at from the river.

Rob Lieb puts some sweat and tears into his effort at the oars.  J.D. Terry enjoys a little break.

Another shot of the canyon.

At any given moment during each day, I was likely to be gazing up at a wall like this one.

More canyon views.  The skies were often lovely.

I pose for a portrait before getting in the boat for our next-to-last full day of paddling.  We're camped at Hualapai Acres, 195 miles downstream of Lee's Ferry.  Photo by Kiley Haberman.

We saw a lot of bighorn sheep, especially during the second half of the trip.  Photo by Nathan Rakestraw.

There is but a narrow distinction between a benign wave and a monstrous hole.

Kaylin Owens works the oars on our penultimate full day of paddling.  Emily Cox soaks up the sunshine.  The headwinds were strong at times during the last several days, so things were actually not as idyllic as this photo makes them look.

Yahoo!  Whitewater!  There's a lot of it down there in the Grand Canyon.

On our next-to-last evening, we took a group photo at Lower Falls camp, 212 miles downstream of Lee's Ferry.  Kneeling, left to right: yours truly, Amelia Taylor, Brady Sleeper; standing, left to right: J.D. Terry, Wiik Ingle, Kylie Haberman, Nick Wirick, Rob Lieb, Nathan Rakestraw, Daniel Cox, Emily Cox, Kaylin Owens, Arlyn Agababian, Genevieve Verrastro.

Kaylin Owens spends our last full day of paddling in a kayak.

Another canyon view.

Amelia Taylor paddles against a backdrop of lava flows and basalt and all kinds of rocky stuff.

Yet another view from my boat.  Trust me, I have way more of these shots than I'm sharing here.

My boat is parked on a Grand Canyon beach for the last time.  We're camped just two miles above our takeout at Diamond Creek.

Kylie Haberman catches me in the act of admiring the quesadillas at our final camp near Mile 224.  That's Diamond Peak in the background.

They have faithfully transported all our gear down 226 miles of river, through many rapids, for sixteen days.  Now it's time to roll up the rafts and load them on the trailer for the ride back to the outfitter's property in Flagstaff.  We're taking out at Diamond Creek, the first road access to the Colorado River since Lee's Ferry.

Our group poses for one last photo at the Diamond Creek takeout.  Dramatically, they hoist me aloft (because I'm the trip leader, I guess).  From left to right, we have Genevieve Verrastro, Arlyn Agababian, Kaylin Owens (hidden), Brady Sleeper, Kylie Haberman, Nick Wirick, Nathan Rakestraw, Wiik Ingle, yours truly, Daniel Cox, Amelia Taylor, Emily Cox, J.D. Terry, and Rob Lieb.

For more information on what this blog is about, click here.